According to police, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj died in a helicopter crash near Kyiv.
Overall, there are at least 16 fatalities after the crash near a kindergarten in the city of Brovary, which borders on Kyiv, said the head of the Ukrainian national police, Igor Klymenko, on Wednesday.
Two children were among the dead.
According to the regional governor responsible, Oleksiy Kuleba, there were children and employees in the kindergarten at the time of the crash.
The now killed 42-year-old Monastyrskyj was appointed interior minister in 2021.
In addition to Monastyrsky, several high-ranking employees of the Interior Ministry died, including his first deputy Yevgeny Yenin.
According to official information, 22 people, including ten children, were also taken to hospitals, and rescue workers and police officers were on duty at the scene.
A widespread fire could be seen on videos from the crash site distributed in online networks.
No information was initially released about the possible cause of the crash.
The plane that crashed belonged to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force for the government emergency service in Kyiv and was therefore the responsibility of the Interior Ministry.
Brovary is located around 20 kilometers from the center of Kiev.
In the first days of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, there had been fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the city.